Everyone want's to jump on the surge of interest in "grow your own".Â Frito-Lay, the makers of potato chips, and a subsidiary of Pepsi co. have a traveling greenhouse. According to the Lay's brand press-release, "Visitors to the 'Lay's Mobile Farm,' a 70-foot long, 10-foot wide and 14-foot high traveling greenhouse will have an opportunity to interact first-hand with plants, meet a Lay's potato farmer and enjoy interactive stations. Families will also receive take-home educational materials that provide simple tips and fun activities to inspire at-home gardening."
One of The Lay'sÂ brand potato farmers is Gregg Halverson of Black Gold Potato in North Dakota, a 17,000 acre "farm" located in 11 states. That's no small potatoes!

The greenhouse is actually a really cool thing that might inspire people to take up food gardening. Yes, it is weird that Pepsi Co. is behind this. They will, "give away away approximately 8,000 individual basil plants to people who participate in the farm experience. And, at the culmination of each city stop, the brand will donate all contents of the greenhouse to local community gardens, resulting in the planting of hundreds of vegetables and fruits in these urban areas."

When you have one of Americas largest corporations trying to jump on the community gardening movement you can see the writing on the wall.Â We in the small, locally owned garden center businesses have a huge opportunity here. After all we really are small, and locally owned. A new term for large corporations trying to appear local centric, "localwashing?"